SPS IPC Drives 2014 exclusive show report

03 January, 2015

applications such as high-bay shelving, as well as interfering and overhanging products. The R2000 Detection scanner uses a rotating measuring head rather than a complex rotating mirror, and provides an angular resolution of 0.071 degrees.

A new magnetic absolute rotary encoder from Servotronix offers an accuracy of 18–22 bits. The sensAR encoder uses a patented signal processing method that associates each digital position code with analogue signals to determine an accurate absolute angular position with a high resolution.

As usual at SPS, Sick had a clutch of new products including a distance sensor with a range of up to 10m on black targets and up to 30m on white targets. The DT50-2 sensor (below) uses a patented time-of-flight technology and can deliver up to 3,000 distance values per second. It is available with a built-in LCD or a WiFi interface.

Sick also has a new generation of intelligent light grids which, it says, set new standards in terms of resolution, response times and ease of use. The MLG-2 grids can detect objects that are transparent, small or fast-moving. They support IO-Link and have analogue and digital outputs. There are two models: the Prime, with an operating range of up to 8.5m, offers four beam separations from 5–50mm; while the Pro version can detect objects down to 2mm and can simulate an application as a 2D animation.

Sick also had several photoelectric sensor innovations, including: a device called TranspaTect MultiTask that can detect transparent items without using reflectors; a module (Ax20) that contains an array of sensors for detecting objects with varying heights, thicknesses or positions to an accuracy of 35µm; and a device (MultiLine) that incorporates two sensors in one housing that work together to detect flat or textured objects.

COMMUNICATIONS

On its SPS stand, Balluff was demonstrating two new Profinet IO-Link master modules. It claims that one of these is the first to offer 16 IO-Link ports, allowing up to 272 I/O signals to be processed in combination with sensor/actuator hubs. This is said to deliver substantial savings per input compared to standard fieldbus modules.

The second innovation is push-pull variants of its IO-Link master modules for either optical fibres or copper cables (shown below). One version can convert from copper to fibre optics within the module. Both of Balluff’s IO-Link arrivals have built-in displays for information and diagnostics.

Delta has a new range of managed industrial Ethernet switches incorporating a proprietary redundant ring technology that provides a self-healing recovery time of less than 20ms, thus ensuring smooth data transmission with minimal losses. The DVS switches offer a choice of operating modes including trunking ring, multi-ring, ring coupling and dual-homing. They support Ethernet/IP and Modbus TCP.

New from Eaton is a gateway that links its SmartWire-DT (SWDT) communications and connection system to EtherCat, allowing SWDT devices such as VSDs, soft-starts, circuit-breakers and pushbuttons to be used in EtherCat systems. The gateway transfers data from the devices via EtherCat to a PLC or other controller.

Eaton has also added a T-connector to SWDT, allowing it to connect directly to sensors and actuators outside of control panels. The IP67-protected devices, which use M12 sockets, can connect up to four sensors/actuators. Up to 99 devices can be connected to a control system via a cable up to 600m long. Eaton says that the connectors (below) will reduce the amount of cabling needed and simplify future expansion. For sensors with their own power supplies, the power consumption can be monitored to check that they are connected correctly.